Flight Booking

The life of a book is predestined to end badly. It will get printed, en masse, shipped to a bookstore, and bought; after which itll be read, passed on to a friend, and eventually dumped at Goodwill -- or, in the case of Perez Hiltons upcoming True Bloggywood Stories: The Glamorous Life of Beating, Cheating, and Overdosing, tossed in a dumpster or used as toilet paper. The only exception seems to be handmade books like those created by ASUs student-bookmaking group ABBA (A-Buncha-Book-Artists) because many of its works often land in private art collections or museums.

Catch ABBAs recent handmade tomes in an exhibit thats currently hanging at the Phoenix Airport Museum, Terminal 3. The show, curated by Gary Martelli, features artist-made books by two-dozen locals, such as Diana Calderon, Kjellgren Alkire, and Cindy Iverson.

So why make an art book when its easier to slap a picture on a canvas? The book form allows us to have direct contact to artwork that most paintings, drawings, and sculptures just don't allow, says ABBA president Jacob Meders. There can be actual physical layers that the viewer can dive into firsthand.